OREM — A 26-foot granite monolith replete with plaudits regarding the value of education may soon stand outside an expanded and renovated student center at Utah Valley State College.
The $50,000 monolith is being proposed as part of an $11 million revenue bond issue to finance construction on the student center project.
This will be the second year in a row that UVSC has borrowed money to build additional space to handle a recent growth spurt.
Utah's Board of Regents approved a resolution Friday that allows UVSC to sell the revenue bonds to pay for a 47,000-square-foot expansion and to remodel the current student center, the fourth addition since its 1997 construction.
The project would give UVSC more room to mature.
Even before enrollment skyrocketed 9 percent last year — up to 20,000 students — UVSC had converted nearly all available space, including a restroom, into classrooms and labs. Enrollment increased 14 percent in 1998.
The project will include a new computer lab, a bookstore expansion, a larger cafeteria, a commons area and administrative offices.
Doug Warner, who oversees the college's budgets, said the school wants to put the bonds on the market the first week of May. The sale should be done by May 17.
Given the rumblings on Wall Street, Warner wants to issue the bonds as soon as possible. "The long-term (bond rates) are going up," he said. "It will only get worse."
According to the resolution, the interest rates cannot exceed 7 percent annually and must be paid back within 30 years. Final approval of the bond sale must be given by Regent Chairman Charlie Johnson or a designated member of the higher-education governing panel.
Students have increased student fees to pay for the new wing. Next year, UVSC students who take at least 12 credit hours will pay $160 a semester in fees.
"The funds are already in place," Warner said. He added that other money the school has socked away, including funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also will be dedicated toward funding construction.
Lawmakers approved the school's bonding proposal during the last session, giving the regents the green light to use their statutory bonding authority.
Legislators who usually balk at going into debt for new buildings have been receptive to UVSC's pleas to bond for
building money. Last year, UVSC received $29 million of a $54.5 million bond for state building projects.
The money is dedicated to a new technology building on the Orem campus that is scheduled to be finished by spring 2002. Workers also will connect the building to the main structure of the college and remodel parts of the Gunther Trades Building.
The second bond issuance was done through Utah County's building authority to buy a $3.25 million, 50,000-square-foot building the school is using for a student-services center.
You can reach Jeffrey P. Haney by e-mail at jeffh@desnews.com